Rajasthan paid unemployment allowance to 6.04 lakh youths since 2019, says minister

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government on Tuesday said it has provided unemployment allowance to about 6.04 lakh youths under the Mukhyamantri Yuva Sambal Yojana. As part of the scheme, a monthly financial assistance of Rs 3,500 is given to women and the differently abled and Rs 3,000 to men.

The eligible candidates also get skill development training, based on their choice. The money is directly transferred to the beneficiary's bank account. Replying to a query during Question Hour in the Assembly, Minister of State for Skill Planning and Entrepreneurship Ashok Chandna said the allowance had been made available to about 6.04 lakh youths since the scheme started in February 2019, adding that only 29,000 applications were pending.

He added that more than 1.57 lakh unemployed youths were getting the allowance at present. Chandna added that in case a youth did not join the mandatory four-hour internship programme at government departments, their names were removed from the list of beneficiaries.

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The minister said the number of beneficiaries was capped at one lakh at the beginning before being raised to 1.60 lakh. It was increased again to 2 lakh during this financial year.

Earlier, in a written reply, the minister had said around 29,000 applications were pending on the portal till September 14. Of these, 4,090 applications are pending for approval after scrutiny and 24,927 are yet to be examined. Chandna said the unemployment allowance was payable to a maximum of 2 lakh beneficiaries at a time, according to the rules, and there was no proposal to increase the limit.